Sony unveiled its latest line of bite-sized MP3 players yesterday, taking another stab at putting a dent in the daunting market share of the iPod with an array of colors, long battery life, a built-in USB connector, and an FM-radio tuner.

Sony's new Walkman MP3 player.

The decidedly entry-level NW-E Series of Walkman players looks like a pack of Jolly Rancher sticks, coming in pink, lime green, blue, violet, silver, and black. The players come with storage capacities of 512MB ($70), 1GB ($100), and 2GB ($130) and have a built-in USB connector. Sony had previously released the Walkman players in the UK.

The players boast 28 hours of listening at full battery capacity and a quick-charge function that provides up to three hours of playback for only three minutes of charging. Unlike the iPod, the Walkman players have a built-in FM radio tuner.

"The new Walkman player is a great choice for people getting introduced to digital music," Sony Electronics' Mitch Li said in a statement. "By offering the player in an assortment of bright, vibrant colors, you can personalize your music experience."

The players come with Sony's SonicStageCP music-management software, which supports song files in the MP3 format and Sony's proprietary ATRAC. The software also supports Windows Media, and as previously reported, Apple's AAC format, but not music in those formats that contain digital rights management (DRM). As a result, music purchased on iTunes, for instance, will not play on these players, but music ripped from CDs into iTunes will.